It is well known that an elemental material may be extracted from an ore using various chemical processes. Element bearing ores are mined and refined and the desired elements extracted through processes that utilize a number of different physical and chemical properties of the ore and the element(s).
In some circumstances, the ore may contain significant quantities of the element to be extracted, which cannot be recovered with conventional extraction processes. In other cases, the extraction process is capable of extracting the base element, although the structure or physical characteristics of the ore inhibit that process and therefore the effective yield is significantly reduced.
Pyrolysis is a known method of recovery of elements from an element bearing material such as ore. It is a form of destructive distillation. However, traditional methods used to induce pyrolysis require the bulk heating of the entire element bearing compounds. This heating requires large amounts of energy and is known to be thermally inefficient. Further, heating by conventional means so as to facilitate combustion, for example heating ores in the open air (through a kiln or fire) or using a reducing agent such as carbon, is difficult to control especially when many compounds are readily combustible in the presence of oxygen. A further combustion technique known as roasting often produces toxic gases such as carbon monoxide.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus which generally avoids combustion and thus obviates and mitigates at least some of the above mentioned disadvantages.